The Development of Creative Thinking Skills Through Creative Thinking-Based Learning Combined with a Digital Learning Ecosystem in Art Education for Grade 5 Students

Abstract

         Creativity is an essential aspect of daily life in various fields and is a crucial skill for the 21^st century. The purposes of this study were: 1) to compare the development of students' creativity before and after implementing a creativity-based learning combined with a digital learning ecosystem for art education for grade 5 students, based on the 80 percent performance criterion; 2) to compare students’ performance before and after learning through creativity thinking-based instruction combined with a digital learning ecosystem for art education for grade 5 students; and 3) to investigate the students' satisfaction with the learning management integrated with creativity thinking-based learning approach and a digital learning ecosystem in art education for grade 5 students. This research employed an experimental research method. The participants were 23 Grade 5 students from Class 5/1 at Sunthornwijit (Bamrungwitthaya) School, Amphoe Mueang Nakhon Phanom, Nakhon Phanom Province, during the second semester of the 2024 academic year, selected using cluster random sampling. The instruments used for data collection included: 10 creative thinking-based lesson plans integrated with a digital learning ecosystem, a creative thinking assessment form, a student work evaluation form, and a student satisfaction questionnaire regarding learning through creative thinking-based instruction combined with a digital learning ecosystem in art education for grade 5 students.
          The research findings revealed that: 1) the implementation of creative thinking-based instruction combined with a digital learning ecosystem in art education for Grade 5 students led to notable improvements. Students demonstrated enhanced creative thinking abilities after the instructional intervention, meeting the 80% performance criterion; 2) a comparison of student performance before and after the intervention showed that post-instruction performance was significantly higher than pre-instruction performance, with statistical significance at the .05 level; and 3) the results from the student satisfaction questionnaire indicated a very high level of satisfaction with the instructional approach  (X ̅ = 4.64, S.D. = 0.28).